June 14, 2012

The Transit of Venus

After we had so much fun watching the eclipse, we just had to do something for the Transit of Venus as well. This event is much more rare, and happened to fall on Eric's "Daddy Day" so we thought it would be a great excuse to pack up Nathaniel and Lillian and take the bus to nearby NASA Ames Research Center. It was quite the scene, and we were really glad we took the bus, as the traffic was backed up for blocks with people trying to get in. There was a line of over an hour to get into the visitor's center, but fortunately several amateur astronomy clubs were set up in the parking lot offering a variety of views of the event. Lillian checked out the images of the spot on the sun, but was way more excited about finding several of her friends there as well. The bus ride back was quite the party with all the kids goofing around at the back of the bus.